Panic Attacks after Exercise

Does anyone know if this is common?
Well..common for people who suffer from anxiety?

I feel fine while exercising, but a few minutes after I stop I start to feel sick. This has happened to me before, but lately the symptoms have been pretty clearly related to anxiety. I'll start to feel like I can't swallow and my lips will start feeling numb. I'll have the whole dizzy/nauseous feeling that goes along with it as well.

 It's making me want to avoid exercising :( I hate it.

Are you doing something that has high intensity, like running or circuit training?  You might want to try doing something more relaxing, like yoga or tai-chi (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right).  If you do something you find relaxing, it might keep you from having such anxiety before, during, or in your case after a work out.

After doing a low intensity, low stress workout for a few weeks you might find high intensity training less stressful and/or anxiety provoking.  Then you could slowly add it back in.

A longer and more drawn out cool-down period might also help.

Low blood sugar can trigger the symptoms of a panic attack.  It happens to me when I don't eat, I can get a racing heart, dry mouth, anxiety, and even a bit of paranoia.  If I don't eat and then do something strenuous, it can be a disaster and only getting some carbs will help.  I don't know if this is the same thing that is happening to you but it is something to check as it can happen even when I am not exercising but just need some carbs.  Now that I know this I haven't had a panic episode in over 6 months.  Be sure you are eating enough everyday and be sure your are including enough carbs for your body.

I have really bad anxiety, and often would find myself going into full blown panic attacks after intense excercise.  I realized a while ago when I was seeing a cognitive behavioral therapist that I'm just hypersensative to my bodily functions like heart rate, breathing, how lightheaded I feel, etc.  And whenever I feel that something is out of whack such as I'm breathing quicker I get a bit nervous that something might be wrong which sort of pushes me into panicing and its just a cycle from there until I can get the anxiety back under control. 

This actually caused me to black out once on a bike ride and I ended up needing someone to come get me off the trail because I was so nervous.  Once I stop the high intensity work out and just stand still for a minute I am no longer distracted and I start to notice everything going on in my body and I just panic for some reason.  What I have done to help overcome this is to concentrate on my breathing and tell myself that it's normal to feel a bit out of whack after excercise.  Once my heart rate and breathing go down I wont feel the anxiety anymore.

hope that helped lol

Oh yeah, and like robynready said, make sure you have enough food and water before excercising because this also makes me more susceptable to panic attacks so now I always carry a granola bar and some light gatorade with me when I excercise incase I have any issues.

I'm worried that what you're suffering from is not anxiety but exercised-induced anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening condition. It is a severe allergic reaction triggered by exercise, or sometimes a certain food plus exercise. Upset stomach and numb lips can be part of it, and the difficulty swallowing could be due to tissue swelling in your throat.

The symptoms normally get worse with each attack, so please look into this and see an allergist if you think EIA could possibly be the problem. If you get hives or facial swelling on top of the other symptoms, I recommend taking some Benadryl as quickly as possible and getting yourself to an emergency room!

I'm not a doctor, but I have this myself and know what I'm talking about.

panic attacks and exersise go together for people who have them.  the same system that acts up when you exersise (ie. increced heart rate, sweating, tensing mussles, etc) are the same body reactions as when you have a panic attack.  when you have panic attacks you get a conditioned responce, your mind interprets how your body feels during/after you exersise as a panic attack which you then precede to start panicing because your having a panic attack and it just goes in a vicious little circle.  it is particularly strong if you get panic attacks from a bodly function (like i have emetophobia if i feel the slightest bit nautious or light headed i will go in to a full blown panic attack, so i would have a worse assosiation with after affects of exersise than say a person who is afraid of spiders because not only is it a conditioned bodly responce i would also have the triggers that happan before vomit along with it) 

so yes it is very common. so like the others said make sure you have food and water with you, take slow deep breaths, tell your self there is nothing wrong its just a panic attack, and try to distract your self or have a mantra.  also work on relaxing your body/deep breathing every day for like 5-10min when you DONT have a panic attact.  this will help you be able to calm your self down when you do get them, and eventualy you will start to not have panic attacts after exersising (but its a process and takes time)

good luck

Thanks for the responses everyone! There was a lot of good advice in there, I appreciate it.

I'm been mostly doing mat exercises and using my stability ball. I do squats and lunges...stuff like that too. I feel like it's stuff that shouldn't really be getting my heart rate up too high? I definitely wouldn't consider it an intense workout at all.

I really want to start using my elliptical again a few times a week. I'm just really nervous about it. There have been times I've considered going on it, but I feel like my heart rate is up before I even get on it!

I too, suffer from insane anxiety and panic attacks. I've not had any feelings of anxiety or anything after exercising but I have experienced it otherwise. I could just be sitting down relaxing and have one.

I can now pretty much make them go away quickly before they "explode" into a full blown episode. I get up, and I walk around, and sometimes I'll sing the lyrics to a song I know (can even have the song playing) or recite some lines from a movie or a poem, all while walking. Sure, if someone saw me or overheard I'd look like a crazy person but it gets rid of my incoming panic attack which definitely would make me look like a crazy person.

I hope this helps. Anxiety sucks.

Edit: If you associate an object or place with fear/anxiety you will always have fear/anxiety when you go near it. You have to rewire your thinking so it doesn't bother you. This worked for me and my issues with public places. Just look at the machine and be like "I'm going to exercise and THAT'S IT!" Don't look at it and think "oh man I might have an attack if I use this..." because you will have one. Tell yourself it's ok, it's just exercise, it's GOOD for you, it makes your body happy and in turn makes you happy. Therefore that machine = happiness! Think of ONLY the positive stuff that machine does and soon the negative won't even exist.

i've had a couple of panic attacks, but only when i had a sinus infection =/

you should try walking or a light jog. also, you should definately have something an hour before you exercise. (a banana is good) and water is important too

I get this exact thing too! My heart also freaks out and beats in the most bizarre rhythms.

I am prone to panic attacks in general, and I find that I freak out more when I have to exercise in public or outside. If I use my exercise bike in my bedroom my symptoms are halved.

I don't know if what I suffer is another panic attack, or some weird form of asthma that then causes me to freak out (because I have trouble breathing, I get light headed, my face tingles, my lungs refuse to inflate, my head throbs, my heart skips, and sometimes I pass out).

Whatever it is, it royally sucks. :(  Sorry you're having these issues too.